"Although most area Catholic churches follow the modern practice of using altar girls, a Norwalk parish recently reverted to a traditional boys-only policy and started a program for girls teaching them to sew, cook and arrange flowers for the altar.
The Rev. Greg Markey, pastor of St. Mary Church in Norwalk for three years, said he made the change to help deal with the shortage of priests. Girls who were altar servers before the change was announced last year were permitted to continue.
More than 20 girls have signed up for the Handmaids of the Altar since the program began in October. They help with the sacristy, creating baptism robes and altar linen. For their first project, the girls raised $175 selling cookies they baked".
Oh, how wonderful! It would be wonderful if this was immitated all over the place. God certainly calls each of us to serve Him in some way, but our gifts and talents are different, and the call to boys (and men) is going to be different than the call to girls (and women). As the good pastor said himself, "Certainly the spirit of the society in which we live will not accept this. Yet this has nothing to do with equal rights. Men and women are equal in the eyes of God, and each has different gifts which should be allowed to develop in their proper environment."The full article, complete with complaints from FutureChurch and feminists, can be found here.
2 comments:
I also love this idea! I believe it is how the Orthodox have done things as well. I dislike that our church allows girls to be acolytes. If the priesthood is open only to men, then there should be no female acolytes. It only opens the doorway to agitation for women in the priesthood and sets up some sincerely faithful girls for disappointment when they start desiring to serve at the altar later in their lives.
Let me clarify, when I said our church, I meant mine. Although, obviously, your church also does this. Our church would be considered by RCs to be valid, but illicit.
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